Portable storage device for a game machine to mount games

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a portable storage device for a game machine to mount games, which includes a portable storage device and a main game machine. The main game machine and the portable storage device are provided with mutual coupling connector interfaces. The connector interface of the portable storage device is further configured with an encoding and decoding unit, which enables processing and transmitting of game files within the portable storage device to the main game machine, after which an execution unit of the main game machine executes the game files and produces an operable user interface, thereby effectively increasing memory capacity of the main game machine. In accordance with such means, the game files of the portable storage device can be mounted on the user interface.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention

The present invention provides a portable storage device, and moreparticularly to a portable storage device for a game machine to mountgames, in which game files stored within a portable storage device aretransmitted to a main game machine through an encoding and decodingunit, and the game files within the portable storage device can bemounted on a user interface.

(b) Description of the Prior Art

Technological progress has brought about a transformation in manyleisure and entertainment industries, with television amusement machinesand computer games being particularly prominent examples of such.

The massive, large-scale amusement machines installed within theso-called amusement places of early times required the consumer to dropcoins or tokens into the large-scale amusement machines in order tooperate the game controls. However, the large-scale machines operatedindependent of each other, thereby preventing inter-machine gamingbetween the large-scale amusement machines.

Later, with the advancement in network technology, in the early stages,computer games on the same large-scale amusement machines enabled onlineinter-machine gaming competition via the Internet or a local-areanetwork. Hence, the traditional amusement places were compelled toreform, and the large-scale amusement machines were replaced with largepersonal computers, and the consumer was able to purchase computer usagetime in the amusement place (now generally known as an Internet Cafe).Within the usage time, users could play competitive games on thelocal-area network, execute online Internet games, access the Internetand browse for information, and so on, via the personal computer. TheInternet Cafe has now already become a place for many people to gettogether during leisure time for the simple reason that although theInternet is convenient, however, effectiveness to provide a receptiveexperience and have a good time together is not apparent when playingonline games with friends via the Internet at home, and hence thediscernible prevalence of Internet Coffee shops.

However, to contend with the Internet Cafe operators, many earlyso-called television amusement machine suppliers further developedtelevision amusement machines with control functions, acousto-opticeffects and fine detailed gaming that surpassed personal computers. Forexample: the XBOX and XBOX 360 marketed by Microsoft, the PS3 marketedby Sony, the WII marketed by Nintendo, and the like, caused fiercecompetition between computer games and television amusement machines.

Although the control functions, acousto-optic effects and fine detailedgaming of the television amusement machines surpassed the personalcomputer, and they enabled inter-machine online gaming with othertelevision amusement machines having the same specifications via theInternet, however, the television amusement machines along with theearly computer games have corresponding shortcomings, namely that themulti-player entertainment experience and effectiveness of multiplepeople having a good time together is not apparent. Furthermore, priceof the television amusement machines is high and game software isexpensive, thus, not everyone is willing to spend their leisure andentertainment expenditure on the television amusement machines.Furthermore, general television amusement machines have the annoyance ofhaving to place a CD (Compact Disk) into the machine, moreover, internalstorage space of the television amusement machines is too small, and isonly able to store game records.

Hence, it is the strong desire of the inventor and suppliers of relatedproducts and purpose of the present invention to overcome existenttechnical difficulties to provide the technology to enable consumers tosimultaneously operate television amusement machines while at the sametime enabling multi-player entertainment in public places, and resolvethe problem of insufficient capacity of the television amusement machineto achieve enabling online updating and online connection.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Hence, in light of the shortcomings of the aforementioned prior art, theinventor of the present invention, having collected related data, andthrough evaluation and consideration from many aspects, as well ashaving accumulated years of experience in related arts, throughcontinuous testing and improvements has designed a portable storagedevice for a game machine to mount games which enables game files storedwithin a portable storage device to be transmitted to a main gamemachine through an encoding and decoding unit, and enables the gamefiles within the portable storage device to be mounted on a userinterface.

A primary objective of the present invention is to store game fileswithin a storage unit of the portable storage device, and enable thegame files to be processed using the encoding and decoding unit andtransmitted through a connector interface of the portable storage deviceto a connector interface of the main game machine. The connectorinterface of the main game machine sends the game files to an executionunit, which executes the game files and produces an operable userinterface, whereby problems of the television amusement machines of theprior art having insufficient capacity and the inability to achieveonline updating and online connection are overcome, and thus achieveseffectiveness to enable the game files of the portable storage device tobe mounted on the user interface of the main game machine.

To enable a further understanding of said objectives and thetechnological methods of the invention herein, a brief description ofthe drawings is provided below followed by a detailed description of thepreferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a preferred embodiment according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of the preferred embodiment according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic view of a user interface of the preferredembodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows an implementation schematic view of the preferredembodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows an implementation schematic view 1 of the preferredembodiment according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, which shows a block diagram of a preferredembodiment of the present invention, and it can be seen from the drawingthat a portable storage device for a game machine to mount games of thepresent invention is structured to comprise a portable storage device Aand a main game machine B.

The portable storage device A is provided with a connector interface A1,and the connector interface A1 is further connected to an encoding anddecoding unit A2 and a storage unit A3. The storage unit A3 is able tostore game files, and processing and transmitting of the game files areimplemented using the encoding and decoding unit A2.

The main game machine B is provided with a connector interface B1 and anexecution unit B2, and the connector interface B1 is coupled to theconnector interface A1 of the portable storage device A. Moreover, theconnector interface B1 is further connected to the execution unit B2,and the execution unit B2 executes the game files and produces anoperable user interface B3.

The connector interfaces A1, B1 of the portable storage device A andmain game machine B can be either USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports,RS-454 ports, IEEE 1394 (Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers) interfaces, SERIAL ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment)interfaces or high speed signal transmission connector interfaces whichinterconnect by means of a plug and socket. And the portable storagedevice A can be either a flash drive, a MMC card (Multi Media Card), aSD card (Secure Digital card), a Mini SD, a CF card (Compact Flashcard), a MS card (Memory Stick card) or a portable storage device ableto store game files.

The main game machine B can be either an XBOX, an XBOX 360, a PS2, aPS3, a WII or a N64, or a game machine able to connect to a television,including a television, a plasma television, a liquid crystaltelevision, and the like.

Furthermore, the encoding and decoding unit A2 can be either a hardwareform of an integrated circuit, a programmed integrated circuit, in theform of a firmware in flash memory or in the form of software installedon a hard disk.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, which show the block diagram, a flowchart and a schematic view of a user interface respectively of thepreferred embodiment according to the present invention, and it can beseen from the drawings that the main game machine B executes gamesmounted from the portable storage device A according to the followingsteps:

(10) Storing of game files in the storage unit A3 of the portablestorage device A;

(11) Processing of the game files by the encoding and decoding unit A2and transmitting them through the connector interface A1;

(12) Transmitting of the game files by the connector interface A1 to theconnector interface B1 of the main game machine B;

(13) Sending of the game files to the execution unit B2 by the connectorinterface B1 of the main game machine B;

(14) Executing of the game files by the execution unit B2 and producingthe operable user interface B3.

When executing the aforementioned steps, the game files stored in thestorage unit A3 within the portable storage device A are supplied to theexecution unit B2 of the main game machine B for reading and executingthereof, whereby when the portable storage device A is transmitting thegame files to the main game machine B, the encoding and decoding unit A2of the portable storage device A first completes processing of the gamefiles, and after the encoding and decoding unit A2 has completedencoding and decoding of the game files, then the game files aretransmitted to the connector interface B1 of the main game machine Bthrough the connector interface A1, whereupon the game files aretransmitted to the execution unit B2, thereby enabling the executionunit B2 to execute the game files, and produce the operable userinterface B3, which is simultaneously displayed on a peripheral device Cof the main game machine B, thereby enabling the peripheral device C toproduce a user interface C1, at which time the portable storage device Ais mounted on the user interface B3 of the main game machine B, and thuseffectively increasing memory capacity of the main game machine B. Inaccordance with such means, the game files of the portable storagedevice A can be mounted on the user interface B3, and enables theoperable user interface B3 to be controlled through selection operationsusing the user interface C1 of the peripheral device C, thereby enablingthe main game machine B to load the game files within the portablestorage device A according to the selection operation on the userinterface C1.

Referring to FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 5, which show the flow chart, theschematic view of the user interface, an implementation schematic viewand an implementation schematic view 1 respectively of the preferredembodiment according to the present invention, wherein the main gamemachine B can be internally provided with a network interface B4, whichenables connection to a server D provided with a plurality of updateddata related to the game files, and the updated data can be downloadedusing the network interface B4 of the main game machine B for updatingof the game files, whereby the updated data is read into and stored inthe storage unit A3 of the portable storage device A through theconnector interface B1 of the main game machine B, and when the networkinterface B4 wants to download the updated data from the server D, thena selection operation is carried out on the user interface C1. After theselection operation on the user interface C1 is completed, then the maingame machine B simultaneously detects that the corresponding userinterface B3 has been selected, thereby enabling the execution unit B2to execute the game file selected on the user interface B3 and searchfor the updated data related to the game file on the server D andimplement downloading and updating thereof. Moreover, the updated datais stored to the game files of the portable storage device A via theconnector interface B1 of the main game machine B, at which time theserver D is mounted on the user interface B3 of the main game machine B,thereby enabling the updated data of the server D to be mountedaccording to the selection operation on the user interface B3, andenabling storing the updated data to the game files of the portablestorage device A. Furthermore, the server D enables simultaneousconnection to two or more than two of the main game machines B, andexecution of the same game file, thereby facilitating convenient publicuse, as well as adding a multi-dimensional aspect to the game files andconvenience of use thereof.

Hence, referring to all the drawings, when in use, the present inventionhas the following advantages compared to the prior art:

1. Game files stored within the storage unit A3 are processed using theencoding and decoding unit A2, after which the game files aretransmitted to the connector interface B1 of the main game machine Bthrough the connector interface A1, whereupon the game files are sent tothe execution unit B2, where they are executed and the operable userinterface B3 is produced, thereby achieving mounting the portablestorage device A on the user interface of B3 of the main game machine B,and effectively increasing memory capacity of the main game machine B.In accordance with such means, the game files of the portable storagedevice A can be mounted on the user interface B3.

2. The main game machine B can simultaneously connect to thepredetermined server D through the network interface B4 to download aplurality of updated data related to the game files from within theserver D via the network interface B4, and when downloading the updateddata via the network interface B4, the updated data is read into andstored within the storage unit A3 of the portable storage device A viathe connector interface B1 of the main game machine B, thereby enablingthe execution unit B2 to execute the game file selected on the userinterface B3 and simultaneously search the server D for updated datarelated to the game file via the network interface B4. After havingfound the updated data related to the game file, the updated data can bedownloaded to implement updating of the game file.

In conclusion, the portable storage device for a game machine to mountgames of the present invention is clearly able to achieve effectivenessand objectives when in use, and is indeed a practical and exceptionalinvention that complies with the essential elements as required for anew patent application. Accordingly, a new patent application isproposed herein.

It is of course to be understood that the embodiments described hereinare merely illustrative of the principles of the invention and that awide variety of modifications thereto may be effected by persons skilledin the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventionas set forth in the following claims.

1. A portable storage device for a game machine to mount games,comprising: a portable storage device provided with a connectorinterface, the connector interface is respectively connected to anencoding and decoding unit and a storage unit, the storage unit is ableto store game files, and game files are supplied to, the encoding anddecoding unit for processing and transmitting thereof; a main gamemachine provided with a connector interface which is coupled to theconnector interface of the portable storage device and receives gamefiles therefrom, the connector interface is connected to an executionunit, and the execution unit executes the game files and produces anoperable user interface.
 2. The portable storage device for a gamemachine to mount games according to claim 1, wherein the main gamemachine is provided with a network interface connected to apredetermined server to enable downloading to the main game machineupdated data related to game files, and the updated data is read intoand stored to the game files of the portable storage device.
 3. Theportable storage device for a game machine to mount games according toclaim 2, wherein the server is connected to two or more than two of themain game machines.
 4. The portable storage device for a game machine tomount games according to claim 1, wherein the connector interfaces ofthe portable storage device and the main game machine are either USB(Universal Serial Bus) ports, RS-454 ports, IEEE 1394 (Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers) interfaces, SERIAL ATA (AdvancedTechnology Attachment) interfaces or high speed signal transmissionconnector interfaces which interconnect by means of a plug and socket.5. The portable storage device for a game machine to mount gamesaccording to claim 1, wherein the main game machine is either an XBOX,an XBOX 360, a PS2, a PS3, a WII or a N64, or a game machine able toconnect to a television.
 6. The portable storage device for a gamemachine to mount games according to claim 1, wherein the portablestorage device is either a flash drive, a MMC card (Multi Media Card), aSD card (Secure Digital card), a Mini SD, a CF card (Compact Flashcard), a MS card (Memory Stick card) or a portable storage device ableto store game files.
 7. The portable storage device for a game machineto mount games according to claim 1, wherein the encoding and decodingunit is either a hardware form of an integrated circuit, a programmedintegrated circuit, in the form of a firmware in flash memory or in theform of software installed on a hard disk.
 8. The portable storagedevice for a game machine to mount games according to claim 1, whereinthe main game machine executes games mounted from the portable storagedevice according to the following steps: storing of game files in thestorage unit of the portable storage device; processing of the gamefiles by the encoding and decoding unit and transmitting them throughthe connector interface; transmitting of the game files by the connectorinterface to the connector interface of the main game machine; sendingof the game files to the execution unit by the connector interface ofthe main game machine; executing of the game files by the execution unitand producing the operable user interface.